Purpose of the Bracelet Program

The Bracelet Program was an initiative of International Possibilities Unlimited; a nonprofit organization incorporated in Ann Arbor, Michigan in January 1985. The program was run by a small group of students at the University of Michigan. The purpose of the Bracelet Program was to 1) raise people’s consciousness about the system of apartheid and the continued racial and socio-economic oppression of people in southern Africa, 2) educate the public about the plight of political prisoners, and 3) be a catalyst for people to develop a personal attachment or bond with a particular political prisoner and his/her family.

Participants were asked to wear their bracelet continuously until their prisoner was released. This aspect of the program was stressed because it was a simple, yet highly visible and powerful symbol of solidarity with the anti-apartheid movement in the United States and the liberation struggle in South Africa. Wearing the bracelet continuously also provided a unique opportunity to tell people about apartheid in South Africa and the plight of the political prisoners each time someone asked about the bracelet. We discovered that the program provided an avenue of expression or involvement for many people who may not otherwise have been involved in the anti-apartheid movement.

Dr. Deborah Robinson, founder of the Bracelet Program, received funding in 1989 to interview the families of the life prisoners. The Program to Combat Racism at the World Council of Churches and the Africa Office at the National Council of Churches generously provided the funds for the trip. With help from the South African Council of Churches, their Regional Councils, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Human Rights Commission, and others, Dr. Robinson traveled to Soweto, Duduza, Middelburg, Sharpeville, Alice, and townships outside of Durban, Pietermaritzburg, and Port Elizabeth, interviewing 19 of the then 22 life prisoner families and visited two prisoners on Robben Island.

Almost all of the political prisoners were released by May 1991 and the Bracelet Program came to a close. In its seven years of operation, more than 5,000 bracelets were sold in over 40 states in the United States, primarily via word of mouth. South African Political Prisoner bracelets also found their way to people in many other countries via friends who bought bracelets here. In addition, IPU donated over $5,000 to anti-apartheid organizations here and abroad including The Washington Office on Africa, International Defence and Aid Fund, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Southern Africa Project), TransAfrica, the South African Council of Churches, and the National Association of Democratic Lawyers (NADEL). It is hoped that in some small way, the Bracelet Program made a difference.